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Brian Rice, highest-ranking officer cleared in Freddie Gray's death, to get $127K in back pay
August 8, 2016, 6:30 PM[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Baltimore police Lt. Brian S. Rice, who was acquitted of manslaughter, misconduct and other charges in the death of Freddie Gray, is set to receive about $127,000 in back pay.

The city's Board of Estimates on Wednesday is scheduled to authorize a payment of $126,916 to Rice. Rice and three other officers charged with felonies in connection with Gray's death were suspended without pay, under department policy. Having been acquitted, Rice is now entitled to back pay under that policy.

Rice, 42, was the highest-ranking officer of the six police officers charged in Gray's arrest and death. Prosecutors had alleged that Rice and others caused Gray's death by failing to secure him in a seat belt in the back of the van, where Gray suffered severe spinal cord injuries last year.

Rice was suspended without pay from May 1, 2015, when he was charged by the state's attorney's office, until July 18 of this year, when Circuit Judge Barry Williams found Rice not guilty of all charges.

"Being suspended without pay for over a year has been financially devastating to Lt. Rice and his family," said Michael Belsky, Rice's attorney.

Williams said prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proving the charges against Rice beyond a reasonable doubt, instead asking the court to rely on "presumptions or assumptions" — something it cannot do. He said the court "cannot be swayed by sympathy, prejudice or public opinion."
Gray, 25, died April 19, 2015, one week after his arrest. His death sparked weeks of protests and activism against police brutality, and two nights of looting and rioting.

Last month, the spending panel authorized $87,705 in back pay for Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., the driver of the van in which Gray sustained his injuries. He, too, was cleared of all charges at trial. Williams also acquitted Officer Edward Nero, and prosecutors dropped all charges against the other three police officers.

Baltimore police's problems are more than a few bad apples
August 10, 2016[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

When Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Police Commissioner Kevin Davis stood before the cameras this morning to discuss the Department of Justice's exhaustive documentation of the Baltimore Police Department's blatantly unconstitutional and racially discriminatory practices, their message was, in a nutshell, "Don't worry, Baltimore, we're on it." They emphasized that the mayor had asked for the DOJ review, that the city and department had cooperated fully with the federal investigators, that they have already issued several new procedures and policies to "get ahead" of the findings, and that the problems centered on a relatively small number of "bad apples" in the department.

Baloney. Every single incident, every damning statistic, every embarrassing failure of accountability the DOJ documented occurred under Mayor Rawlings-Blake's administration, up to and including the 14 months when the feds were conducting their investigation. The practices the DOJ describes, including potentially hundreds of thousands of unconstitutional stops and searches, excessive and unnecessary use of force, racially discriminatory orders, violations of First Amendment rights and sexist dismissals of complaints of sexual assault are not the work of a few "bad apples." They are the product of intentional policies and wanton failures of accountability, and they continue to this day.
Ms. Rawlings-Blake has said throughout her tenure that she would clean up the bad practices of the Martin O'Malley-zero-tolerance era of Baltimore policing. Her first pick for the city's top cop, Anthony Batts, proclaimed himself a "reform commissioner," and the current chief, Mr. Davis, touts his experience in helping lead Prince George's County's police through a similar DOJ review. Yet the disregard for constitutional policing — not to speak of effective, community-sensitive policing — remains blatant and brazen

The death of Freddie Gray while in police custody has resulted in a huge back pay bonanza for one Baltimore police officer. Lt. Brian Rice, who was acquitted of all charges in Gray’s death, will receive an estimated $127K according to Baltimore’s Board of Estimates. The cash “represents the amount of salary that Mr. Rice would have earned for the period of May 1, 2015 through July 18, 2016.” The decision by the Board of Estimates must be voted on but it will more than likely be approved.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] of the six accused in Gray’s death and was facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. Last month, all remaining charges against the six officers accused in Gray’s death were dropped by the office of Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. The state had humiliating failures in previous trials for officers accused of causing the neck and spinal injuries that resulted in Gray’s after “rough ride” in a police van where he was unsecured. Many have stated that the charges leveled by [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] were overreaching and on poor legal standing. There were three more trials that were set to take place that included: Officer Garrett Miller scheduled to begin on July 27; a retrial of Officer William Porter on Sept. 6; and Sgt. Alicia White’s trial was scheduled to begin Oct. 13.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies... By Andy Dufresne/Shawshank Redemption

Two Baltimore cops charged in Freddie Gray’s death will get tens of thousands in back pay
Tuesday, August 23, 2016, 2:26 PM[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Two Baltimore police officers are getting back pay after being cleared of criminal charges in the death of a young black man whose neck was broken in a police van.

Sgt. Alicia White and Officer William Porter will receive $96,855 and $70,523 respectively. They were suspended without pay after being charged with felony manslaughter in the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray.

The Board of Estimates is scheduled to approve the payments on Wednesday.
White and Porter were among six officers charged in Gray's death. Prosecutors dropped all the cases after three of them were acquitted.

The Board of Estimates previously approved nearly $127,000 in back pay for Lt. Brian Rice, the highest-ranking officer in the group, and about $87,700 for Officer Caesar Goodson, who drove the van where Gray's neck was broken and faced the most serious charge, of second-degree murder.

The four officers had been suspended without pay since May 1, 2015, when State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced felony charges against them. Two others, Edward Nero and Garrett Miller, were suspended with pay because they faced only misdemeanors.

Baltimore Police Officer Alicia White, charged in Freddie Gray case, becomes the first to speak out

November 17, 2016

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] was used to smiles in her native West Baltimore, but she was also getting stares. Sometimes strangers would come right up and ask.

"Are you that officer?"

To some, she'd demur. Other times the 30-year-old would acknowledge, yes — I'm the female officer charged in [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]'s death.

No one ever asked if she was guilty. Those close to her believe she couldn't possibly be culpable. But many in the city may never forgive her.

For the past 18 months, her co-defendants either went to trial or were called to the stand to testify while she awaited her own trial. Out of public view, White spent much of the time grappling with crippling anxiety, and at one point was rushed to a hospital. The stress led her and her fiance to call off their engagement, and she spent months unemployed. Then, in July, all charges were dropped.

Now, White is speaking publicly for the first time as she begins the process of clearing her name in the community and in the department, where an Internal Affairs investigation is pending. Next, she hopes to return to policing the streets of Baltimore.

On the advice of her lawyer, White declined to discuss the details of the case but maintains she did nothing wrong. She is the first of the six officers charged in Gray's death to give a sit-down interview.

"I still believe that, when I went to work that day, I did everything that I was trained to do," White said in a series of interviews with The Baltimore Sun. "Unfortunately, that day someone lost their life. But I feel like everything I was trained to do, I did."

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies... By Andy Dufresne/Shawshank Redemption

Several Baltimore police officers involved in the Freddie Gray case are facing termination after an internal investigation found they committed administrative violations in their handling of the 25-year-old's death, according to reports.

An internal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Gray's 2015 in-custody death found five of the six officers involved violated internal protocol, according to [Only registered and activated users can see links. ].

For three of the officers, the violations were enough to merit termination, the [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] first reported.

Lt. Brian Rice, the supervising officer on duty, Officer Caesar Goodson, the driver of the van carrying Gray, and Sgt. Alicia White have been suspended and are facing termination.

The three were notified last week of the administrative charges against them.

Officers Garrett Miller and Edward Nero, who were involved in Gray's arrest, face suspension without pay for a few days. No internal charges were filed against Officer William Porter, who was the only one to receive a lesser manslaughter charge, according to WBAL Baltimore.

The Montgomery County and Howard County police departments conducted the internal inquiry into the officers at the request of the Baltimore Police Department.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies... By Andy Dufresne/Shawshank Redemption

No federal charges against officers in Freddie Gray death
Sep 12 2017 05:28PM EDT[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

Federal prosecutors will not charge six Baltimore officers involved in the in-custody arrest and death of Freddie Gray, according to the Associated Press.
Gray was critically injured on April 12 in the back of a prisoner transport van after he was arrested for having a switchblade.

Six officers faced charges, ranging from second-degree murder to assault and misconduct in office, in connection with Gray’s death.

The case sparked violence in the streets of Baltimore. Protests, fires, looting, and riots overwhelmed the city in the days following his funeral.
In September of last year, the city of Baltimore agreed to pay the Gray family $6.4 million to settle civil litigation in the case